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This book is a history of public information and personal ideas about war and the military over the last century. It examines the interplay between popular media coverage of the nation's wars and the perceptions of ordinary Americans—from famous scientists to socialites to semi-literate laborers to prison inmates—regarding military issues. Davidson studied Americans who produced a wealth of proposals to solve some of the most pressing military problems of their day. His book consists of hundreds of letters sent to those in charge of the armed forces, advising them on issues ranging from grand strategy to individual combat. Davidson sets their letters alongside extracts from the contemporary popular press to illustrate the ways that the media both informed and motivated the public to think about war. This is the first book to look at the ideas of ordinary citizens regarding military matters.

Joel R. Davidson is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and the author of The Unsinkable Fleet. He holds a law degree from Yale and a PhD in history from Duke.

More by this Author

UNSINKABLE FLEET

In this policy study of the U.S. Navy's expansion from 1939 through the end of the war, the author... Read More

ARMCHAIR WARRIORS

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Did you ever feel like you wanted to offer some advice to the President or the Generals and Admirals fighting the nation's wars? In "Armchair Warriors: Private Citizens, Popular Press, and the Rise of American Power," Joel R. Davidson reveals more than a century's worth of personal correspondence or letters to the editor of major publications from people who did just that. Davidson offers two perspectives in the book -- the journalistic articles and the letters evoked from private citizens because of those stories. It's a fascinating glimpse at how media can shape public opinion.